‘I enjoy movies and from what Faye’s said, I think I need to watch the adaptation for this one.’ She pulled a face as she admitted, ‘I struggled with the story. Maybe it was just me.’
Faye wondered whether Margot was a bit like her – with other things going on in her life that made it hard to focus? Perhaps, also like her, Margot needed some escapism.
‘Definitely watch the movie,’ Faye urged Margot. ‘I really enjoyed it. Ignore Howard.’ She laughed at his expression. Sometimes he looked like he disapproved, but he never really did, he was quietly taking in everything that was going on around him.
‘So what are we reading next?’ Sarah asked. ‘Can we avoid crime? The news is depressing enough.’
‘And thrillers are uplifting?’ Howard asked, earning a quiet chuckle from the eighty-one-year-old thriller fan.
‘We haven’t had a romance for a while,’ said Sarah. ‘I like those too.’
The word ‘romance’ must have been what made Howard peer closer to the screen. ‘Faye, you’re not wearing your engagement ring.’
She’d showed off her ring when Brad proposed; they’d all known how happy she was.
She had to think quickly. ‘I often take it off for work. You know, chemicals and all that.’
The explanation seemed to suffice and after further talk of the next book they’d tackle, Howard yawned a third time and Faye suggested she let everyone go to bed.
Howard smiled. ‘It’s a real adventure doing this at midnight.’ His face, illuminated by the desk lamp, was full of joy despite his tiredness.
‘You have to get up and run a bookshop,’ said Joel. ‘I don’t know how you do it.’
‘It’s a pleasure, that’s why.’ His smile, warm and friendly, spoke about the man he was.
‘Sleep well, everyone. Or as well as you can,’ she said for those she knew struggled to do this simplest of things, the same way Auntie Clare had. ‘And I’ll see you all next week.’
She’d closed down her laptop and sat for a while with nothing but herself and an incredible view for company.
Sod all those people who had fallen away from the book club because of the scandal – the real reason behind what had happened in her life to make her remove her platinum engagement ring with the emerald-cut diamond.
Eventually she stood up to get some feeling back in her legs. It was peaceful here with nature, the ocean, the lack of prying eyes. It was one of the best lookout spots on the Sunshine Coast.
Would she admit to her book club friends that she was no longer engaged? Maybe next week. Either that or put on a fake ring along with a fake smile and pretend everything was right with her world when really it was a hell she felt no more ready to face up to today than she had been yesterday.
She could almost imagine what someone like Howard would say when he heard how Brad had broken it off with her. She got the impression that Howard’s marriage was one of those rock-solid partnerships, like her grandparents had had, there at each other’s side through thick and thin.
Brad hadn’t even broken it off with her in person, he’d done it over a FaceTime call when the miles separated her in Queensland from him in Tasmania where he was showing solidarity with his dad and the rest of the family. However, it soon became apparent over their messages that the running away had been as much for Brad’s benefit as it had been for anyone else’s. Phrases likeIcan’t cope with all the attention,Ihate what this is doing to my family,Ihave to focus on my big work project and don’t need anything else on my plate, wore thin very quickly when she’d had no choice but to stay here. She didn’t have the luxury of some place to run to miles away. She didn’t have the ability to work from home, because she rented a chair at the local hairdressing salon for her clients and taught water sports or worked behind the hire desk at her dad’s business. She’d had no other option but to stay in the firing line.
Their last call had been the one that ended it. She’d called Brad using FaceTime for a change as she wanted to see him rather than guessing at how he must be feeling or what he was thinking. It had been three long weeks and she was stressed, upset, lonely and had no idea when her fiancé was coming back. Her dad wasn’t here either, and she couldn’t bear to talk to her sister. She felt so alone.
On that last call with Brad it had been obvious that this was taking a toll on both of them and at first Faye had thought they could console each other, get through it together.
‘How can we ever come back from this?’ he’d asked. His dark hair had the same flick at the front that he hated and she thought looked cute. ‘This is a complete nightmare, Faye.’
‘I know, I’m living in it. Every single day.’
‘Don’t get pissed off that I left and came to Tasmania. I would never have been able to keep working at the office with this going on. My boss said the press were camped outside for a week to get my take on it.’
‘I’ve had people showing up here too – you know I have.’ She’d texted him enough times when calls didn’t connect.
‘I just can’t believe this is happening.’ He could barely look her in the eye.
‘It’s horrible.’ Her voice wobbled.
‘Dad isn’t enjoying it much either.’
She cringed. Any mention of his father made her feel nauseous. And the man had brought this on himself. What did he expect, doing something so untoward when he was in the public eye? Faye had tried to imagine what Steph could’ve possibly seen in the slightly balding man with a beer belly and an uptight demeanour that he thought made him sound superior. She’d never told Brad that was what she thought of his dad, but every time Mark appeared on the television Faye saw him as one of those politicians you should never trust.
